


The End (Justifies the Means)

by teaandabiccie



Series: The End [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Crew as Family, Gen, Roronoa Zoro-centric, Survival Horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:47:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29598507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaandabiccie/pseuds/teaandabiccie
Summary: Robin is a scientist. She brings possibility. Chopper is a doctor. He keeps them all healthy. Franky, the craftsman, can get anything working and fortify their defences enough that even Usopp can feel safe enough to rest. Usopp is so incredibly inventive and creative. He's saved their lives on numerous occasions. Nami can find her way into any place - locked or otherwise. Sanji is a chef; he knows what is edible and what is not. He knows how to make their meagre rations last.Luffy is Luffy. He's their hope. He's the bond that brought them all together and holds them even now.But Zoro? Zoro isn't any of those things. Zoro is nothing more than a shield to keep the others safe.-The world ends. The Straw Hats traverse it together and try to find a way out alive.
Relationships: Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates, Portgas D. Ace & Roronoa Zoro
Series: The End [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2186304
Comments: 23
Kudos: 42





	1. Day 9

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this to be a oneshot and it spiralled out of control. We will be jumping between the past and present here. I've decided to release it in four parts instead of one very long one. 
> 
> Expect a lot of Straw Hat bonding, some referenced character death and a lil smidge of angst.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

It took nine days for someone to come.

Zoro sat in his cell, arms chained to the wall behind him like a medieval peasant awaiting execution. The lightbulb in his cell had blown four days ago, on the day the pipe had burst. The darkness, the complete lack of anything, if he closed his eyes and focused on the trickle of running water than he could almost have gone back in time.

Before the world had ended. Before the world had even begun.

He was lucky, he supposed. Or unlucky, depending on the way he looked at it.

This place had been built with the limitation of human rights in mind, for the most dangerous criminals that the likes of Shells Town could expect to detain. It was sealed, the old iron bars reinforced with a window behind, through which that bastard Helmeppo and his friends had been able to watch him and laugh, safe in the knowledge that even if he broke free of his chains, he would not be able to reach them.

Its purpose had been to protect them for him. In reality, it had protected him from them.

Nine days ago, Zoro had watched through the glass as another man’s teeth had torn Helmeppo’s throat. It wasn’t soundproof. He had heard the gargling scream die out to the backing track of distant panic. He had watched then Helmeppo’s body rise.

It hadn’t taken long for the station to fall into chaos. Those things remained, attracted to the terrified pleas of the other detainees, trapped in their cells. He didn’t hear many more of them ripped apart by what remained of the people outside.

Mostly they simply went quiet. And that was that.

Nobody brought them food. Nobody brought water. The burst pipe had become Zoro’s lifeline. If he turned his head and lunged forwards, it trickled into his mouth, liquid life, sustaining him. He was lucky. The grate on the floor allowed it to drain away so he wasn’t sitting in it and dealt with other waste as well.

He kept drinking it, even though it was only prolonging his demise. Death by dehydration. Death by starvation. Death by the day those things outside finally forced their way in.

Nine days after the end, he thought that the latter had come. A face appeared behind the bloodied glass.

“Ace! Ace, there’s a person!” called someone.

Zoro cleared his throat. Didn’t this idiot know that those things were attracted by sound? Zoro was stuck inside but even he had noticed that much.

“Yeah, there are some here too,” said another voice. “What a way to go. Survive the zombies, rot in jail anyway.”

“No, he’s alive!” insisted the first voice.

Zoro squinted. The face on the other side of the blood splatter belonged to a boy with a scar under one eye and a straw hat on his head.

Salvation saw Zoro looking at him, grinned and waved. “Hi, I’m Luffy!”

“Wanna let me out?” said Zoro, voice hoarse from lack of use. He cleared it again.

“Are you a murderer?” asked Luffy, blinking down at him.

Footsteps started to approach from down the hall and Zoro tensed instinctively. They were too calm, too measured to belong to one of those things.

“No,” he said quickly.

“A murderer would probably be a useful person to have on side right now,” said the second voice and someone else came into view. Someone else with a large ring of keys in one hand.

“If we let you out, do you wanna join our crew?” said Luffy.

The second person sighed. The keys jangled in his hands. He was already reaching for the lock. Zoro’s heart skipped a beat. He pushed himself up on shaking knees. Hunger made him weak. The floor tilted underneath him.

“Ace an’ I are co-captains,” Luffy continued cheerily.

The door swung open with a metallic creaking that set Zoro’s teeth on edge. Ace winced, approaching quickly.

“Yeah, co-captains of the good ship ‘get the hell out of here.’” He reached over Zoro’s head and made quick work of the cuffs.

Zoro entirely unprepared for freedom fell forwards and just barely caught himself on his elbows. His shoulders screamed. He hadn’t hit the floor but he felt winded.

“Can you stand?” asked Ace, voice soft.

A hand was extended for him to grab. Before the had world ended, Zoro would have pushed it away out of pride. Before the world had ended, Zoro hadn’t known what nine days of starvation, chained to a wall would do to a man.

He took the hand and as he did so, noticed that underneath a beaded bracelet and dog-eared shirt sleeve was a scabbed over bite mark.

Ace hauled him up.

Zoro caught his breath. “Did they get you?” he asked under his breath, something telling him that he shouldn’t let Luffy hear this.

“Nah, dog bite. We saved some old guy’s dog a few days ago. Luffy wanted to keep it but well…” Ace turned, gesturing to the gore washed window behind them. “It’s not really the best time for a pet, is it? The dog’ll probably do better without people anyway. They don’t seem to go for animals.”

“Too busy eatin’ people,” said Luffy from the doorway. “Chou-chou was so cool though. Hey, Ace?”

Ace had rolled his sleeve up as he’d spoken and the more that Zoro looked at the bite mark, the less it resembled anything human and the more it appeared to have come from a small-to-medium dog. There were two deeper welts, which corresponded almost perfectly to where Zoro imagined the dog’s sharp canines would have been.

Staring at that, Zoro didn’t notice Luffy’s expression change.

“Company?” said Ace.

“Mmhm,” said Luffy, hefting a pipe over his shoulder. “He’s got a mushroom head.”

“Is he blonde?” asked Zoro, rolling his shoulder, preparing to run.

“Yeah,” said Luffy.

Ace added, “ A friend?”

“No,” said Zoro emphatically.

At that exact moment, Luffy surged forwards and there was a clang, a thump and wet thud. Luffy stepped backwards, Helmeppo’s body falling limp and lifeless to the ground at his feet, feet that Zoro now noticed were protected only by a loose pair of straw sandals.

Staring down at Helmeppo’s caved in skull, Zoro asked grimly, “Hey, do you still have those keys?”

“Yeah,” said Ace, “but if you’re looking for someone, I doubt you’ll find anyone else alive in here. I don’t know if you know but it’s been-“

“Nine days, yeah,” said Zoro. “I counted. It’s not someone, it’s something. My swords, I want them back.”

“Swords?” asked Ace, clearly wanting him to elaborate. He had placed himself, Zoro noticed, between him and the exit – and Luffy.

“Yeah, I’m a kendo instructor,” said Zoro. “Or was.”

“So cool!” said Luffy too loudly for either Zoro or Ace’s tastes. “You gotta join our crew now, captain’s orders.”

Ace nodded slowly. “You’re sure you’re didn’t kill someone?”

Zoro sighed, feeling exhaustion deep in his bones, in the burn where his cuffs had rubbed raw. “I killed a dog. His dog. It was mauling a little girl.”

He had wondered on many occasions, if it had been worth it, if the girl had survived the disaster unfolding outside. On darker days, he had wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t intervened. Would he been able to escape? Was there anything left out there anyway?

Did an unpleasant death await him either way?

“Ah,” said Ace. “Seems we don’t have good luck with dogs.”

“Hey, I have great luck with dogs,” said Luffy. “Chou-chou loved me.”

“Chou-chou ate your door key,” said Ace with a sigh. “Let’s go get this guy some swords.”

“My swords,” specified Zoro, but it fell on deaf ears.

“Confiscated stuff room,” said Luffy with a serios nod. “Got it – it’s this way.”

He bounded off down the corridor, hopping over Helmeppo’s body like it was simply an obstacle on the floor. Zoro supposed it was. Helmeppo had barely been a person when he’d locked Zoro in the cell. For the past nine days, he’d been nothing but a bloodied ghost whose blank stare had haunted what few dreams Zoro recalled.

Ace ushered Zoro ahead of him. Perhaps it was distrust. Perhaps it was for his own protection. Zoro didn’t care. He was free. If he was free, at least he had a chance.

“You don’t have to come with us,” said Ace quietly, too quietly for Luffy, already at the end of the corridor, to hear. “But it’s bad out there. It’s really bad. If you stick with us, we probably all have a better chance of getting out alive.”

“Do you recruit all strangers you come across alive?” asked Zoro before he could help himself. He turned his head to look back at Ace too quickly and sparks erupted behind his eyes.

Ace shook his head. “Nah, not that we come across many people that aren’t… well you’ll see.” He stuck a hand in the pocket of his cargo pants and started to search for something.

Zoro stepped over the body of another prison guard, guts and limbs strewn across the floor. Like Helmeppo, his head was caved in and Zoro assumed this had been Ace and Luffy’s handiwork.

“I’ve seen enough.”

Ace pulled his hand out of his pocket, catching Zoro’s wrist to press his prize into his palm.

Zoro hissed as Ace’s fingers, surprisingly warm, came into contact with the raw skin of his wrist.

“Eat it quickly, before Luffy sees,” said Ace quietly, stepping ahead of Zoro now.

It wasn’t hard for him to overtake. Zoro stopped dead, his feet forgetting to move as he stared down at the cereal bar in his hand – the first food he had seen for more than a week.

“Why are you helping me?” he asked before he’d thought about it. “This must be…”

He trailed off. He didn’t need to have seen outside to guess what the outside world was like now. He’d seen the movies. The fact that nobody had come to the station to free or secure the trapped prisoners told him enough. Outside, society must have crumbled. If hadn’t become so already, food would likely soon be scarce.

“Luffy likes you,” said Ace, like that answered anything at all. “He’s got excellent instincts. Besides, like I said, it’s good to have capable allies.”

“How do you know I’m capable?” said Zoro, immediately kicking himself for the implication that they should leave him there. Not that he needed allies; he’d been fine on his own, he was sure. All he needed was his swords.

Ace gestured to the still screaming muscles of Zoro’s arms, answering, “Well, nine days into the apocalypse, you’re not dead yet. That’s got to count for something.”

“Yeah,” said Zoro.

Even if that something was sheer dumb luck.


	2. Day: Too Many

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said in the last note that this fic will jump around in time a little bit. Here we have the first 'present day' chapter.  
> This was originally long oneshot that I split into parts when I realised what a monster I had created, so this part is still in present tense. Let me know if it feels too jarring and I will edit future present day parts.
> 
> This is also half of what I initially intended to release as this part. Mostly because I really enjoyed the Ace, Luffy and Zoro flashback and I wanted to write more for them so I maaaaaaay have added another section or two...
> 
> Warnings for this chapter: there is some quite graphic violence and generally expected zombie apocalypse horror. Some references to amputation and also people eating people. (Zombie apolocalypse - what can I say?)

Zoro and Sanji have taken longer to complete their patrol than they should have done. Everything is a muted grey around them, from the buildings to the cracked pavements to the burnt out cars. Even the sky is grey, the last lingering touches of the sun spreading purples like old bruises in the sky behind them.

The cook walks a half step ahead of Zoro, who hangs back, his one remaining eye darting from shadow to shadow. The other one throbs in his skull and his neck aches as he turns it to compensate. One is not the ideal number of eyes to have in the apocalypse, it turns out.

Still, he is vigilant.

He reaches out an aching arm and yanks the cook back by the fancy fur of his coat collar.

“Fuck, marimo!” Sanji spits, the beginning of the sentence more of a yelp really.

“Shh,” says Zoro.

“Your hands are fucking freezing,” complains the cook, reaching up one of his own gloved hands as though to feel for a dropped ice cube.

He would have done that for certain if there had been ice cubes around to be stuffed there. Freezers and ice cubes and the freedom to pull pranks… they haven’t had those in a while.

Zoro merely gives the cook a look. He doesn’t have the energy to get into it. He knows his hands are cold. It _is_ cold. His nose is red too and the tips of his ears. There is a faint flush across his cheeks. His hair is still green and it makes for an interesting contrast. It might be cold outside but inside the thick coats Nami made them pick up, it is extremely warm.

Sanji shivers. He doesn’t seem to have that problem but then he did go for the more aesthetically pleasing coat option. Zoro, Usopp and Chopper all look exactly the same. Functional. Warm. Potentially lifesaving once the weather turns. Luffy has the same coat, but his is red. They had warned him that this was not the best time to look like a walking fire hydrant but like the straw hat on his head, the impractical clothing choice could not be overturned.

Shrugging his shoulders, Zoro asks, “Do you smell that?”

The cook’s eyes narrow. “You mean you? You stink.”

“You don’t exactly smell like roses yourself, shit cook,” Zoro replies.

At that moment, the cook’s curly eyebrow rises. His mouth freezes, still half open to deliver some sort of scathing retort. He sniffs, holding his breath like he’s savouring the drag of a cigarette, then he releases it.

“It smells like… barbeque?”

Zoro frowns. To him it smells like burning flesh, burning flesh that has already begun to decay. There is nothing appetising about it. But the cook’s sense of smell is supposedly better than his, or so he continually brags. Maybe he’s just full of shit. Maybe it’s all the cigarettes he used to smoke.

“Smells like something burning,” he agrees.

“Should we…?” Sanji begins, gesturing in the direction he assumes the scent to be.

Zoro doesn’t have any idea which way it is. He thought he did, when he first smelt it, but now it seems like it’s everywhere. It’s in his nose and his mouth. He tries not to breathe too deeply.

“Could be trouble,” he says. “Might be worth checking out before it gets dark, in case it comes to kick us in the ass later.”

Sanji nods but grumbles, “Should’ve brought the damn gun.”

“Don’t think Usopp would’ve been up for another outing today,” says Zoro. “And you’re not half the shot he is.”

Sanji frowns. He doesn’t reach for low hanging fruit that is Zoro’s complete lack of depth perception. Neither does he touch upon the fact that Usopp is never up for any outing when it means he might have an encounter with the undead. Which is, of course, every single time they leave any area they’ve tried to make safe.

Not after what happened.

Sanji leads the way in silence and Zoro stalks along behind him. The scent of decay is everywhere, the hint of burning stifling. Zoro has experienced fire before, during the early days, knows the feeling of acrid smoke suffocating the lungs. This is not that but it is equally stifling.

His eye continues to throb. His scars itch. He maintains constant vigilance but it is the sound that gives it all away. Since he lost his eye, every sound that comes from that side has seemed louder. Now they all do. He is hyperaware.

For the time being, it serves him well.

He taps the cook’s elbow and nods his head in the direction of a shambling sound. Two zombies in an alleyway. One of them is stuck under an upturned dumpster. The second is leaning over the first.

For a moment, it looks to Zoro like the second zombie is trying to pull out the first. It had been a woman once. Her long blonde hair falls down her back, matted with dirt and debris. Her back is shaking uncontrollably. Somehow, she still has a purse at her hip. It is decorated with charms that jangle as her body moves.

It’s almost like she’s sobbing.

The cook sees it too. Zoro knows because he frowns, the corners of his lips turning downwards.

Neither of them makes a sound but it doesn’t matter because at that moment, the zombie woman lifts her head and turns it at an unnatural angle. Gore drips down her chin. Ruined hands grip the half severed arm of the trapped zombie, holding it to decaying lips.

She doesn’t see them. She can’t see them. The undead all have sightless eyes, cast over with the sheen of death. But she must sense them in some way. Maybe it’s the blood pumping through their veins.

Because she stands. Her lips curl up in a snarl. She doesn’t release her grip on the arm quickly enough. It must have only been clinging to the other animated corpse by a thread of sinew because it detaches. The fingers, which had still been frantically scrabbling, fall still.

There is enough left of her vocal chords to produce a grating shriek as she surges towards them.

The cook reacts first. He leaps into the air, jumping off the side of a shop to push himself higher, then brings his steel-capped boot down on top of the creature’s head.

She falls but does not die, spitting congealed blood onto the pavement. The cook cracks his foot down one more time, cutting off her rattling breaths as he caves in her skull.

He turns to the other one, now armless and making odd clicking sounds with its teeth and puts that one down too.

“Ugh,” he says, looking down at the stained leg of his trousers with a grimace.

“Could’ve brought a bat,” says Zoro, pausing to cough into his elbow.

Sanji’s grimace deepens. “If you’re getting a cold, you can keep that shit away from me.”

“If that’s all I’ve got to do to keep you away from me, I’ll take it,” Zoro replies. He punctuates it with a very deliberate fake cough, maintaining perfect eye contact, but it catches in his throat and he has turn to cough for real.

Sanji looks like he’s sucking on a lemon. “I mean it. Is that why you didn’t go after them?”

Zoro raises one eyebrow. “Figured you needed the exercise. You’re falling so far behind, I had to give myself a handicap for you to catch up.”

“Fuck you, mosshead,” hisses Sanji, but the words have no venom to them and he looks sharply away from Zoro’s face.

It takes Zoro a moment to realise that handicap might not have been the right word to say as a man who had recently lost an eye. Especially not to someone who had witnessed the event unfold in graphic detail.

For a moment, a sour taste fills his mouth and it overpowers the scent of something unpleasant burning nearby. Then a cold wind blows dust into his good eye. He swipes it away and can no longer bring himself to care.

Beside him, the cook pulls his coat tighter around himself. His face is ash grey. They are losing light fast.

As though thinking the same thought, Sanji’s eyes dart upwards, where an old fire escape attaches to the side of a building, its ladder partially extended. He looks back at Zoro but says nothing. He doesn’t have to; they both hear the sounds of distant moaning.

The rooftops would be faster. They would encounter fewer zombies. Sanji has an enviable level of acrobatic ability and parkour skills. The sky is his domain.

On ordinary day, Zoro would insist that it wasn’t that impressive, that he could do all of that too – and better. There haven’t been many ordinary days lately. With one eye, he’s not confident in his ability to judge the distances they would have to jump.

He won’t say this. He will attribute it to noise. Heavy landings make for heavy impact, rattling metal attracting every shambling corpse in the vicinity. The dead are not coordinated enough to leap rooftops to follow them but at this point, what remains of the living has got to be vigilant enough to notice this.

For the safety of the rest of the group, they have to escape notice of all kinds.

So Zoro shakes his head and Sanji looks at him for a long moment, obviously weighing up the same pros and cons that Zoro has before they both press wordlessly on.

It isn’t long before they start to see tendrils of smoke in the sky. The sound comes soon after. Laughter, the clinking of glasses, booming voices, volume uncontrollable with drink. It had been the soundtrack to many of Zoro’s nights back when things had been normal.

Now, he and Sanji exchange another grim glance and the cook creeps forwards. Zoro follows in his footsteps, treading carefully, barely breathing.

It’s a compound comprised of an old school and its buildings. Colourful murals decorate the walls of smiling sunflowers. Miraculously, all of the windows are intact, children’s creations taped to the surface inside and gazing out like ghosts of the past. Outside, a painted cartoon snake has its numbers splashed with dried blood.

Piles of books are strewn about the schoolyard. Zoro follows their trail towards a centre of the repurposed playground, where a man stands ripping a book into pieces and feeding it to the fire. He thinks of Robin, safe in their temporary haven, and he’s glad he took this task in her place.

A group of men sit around the campfire. They are roasting meat.

Sanji starts to gag, slapping his hand over his mouth to keep quiet. Zoro would ordinary turn to glare at him but his own blood runs cold in his veins. Then it turns to fire.

Huddling under a painted window box filled with wilting weeds is a group of seven people with their hands and feet bound and cloth gags over their mouths. Zoro doesn’t want to take stock of them, doesn’t need to in order to understand the situation. But he can’t help but notice the way their bodies quiver as the cool breeze strokes their bare skin. He can’t help but see the anguished expressions on the faces of those who are conscious, the silent tears shining on faces illuminated by dancing flame.

Flames over which a human leg was being slowly rotated until the skin had crisped to the chef’s liking.

Of the seven people stuck here, four are missing limbs. Two are unconscious. The stumps have been wrapped and tended to, but there is a thin sheen of sweat to all of the amputees’ brows.

Zoro reaches for Sanji’s arm but before his fingers close around it, the door to the school building is flung open. It hits the wall with a bang, making the nearest bound woman emit a stifled scream. The two unconscious people do not stir. One of their heads lolls to the side, looking almost like the neck is broken.

Four men step outside, each having to duck under the doorframe. Zoro’s breath sticks in the back of his throat, bile rising behind it.

He knows these men. He has seen them. He and Luffy have both woken in the middle of the night with the impression of those four silhouettes against a background of flame behind their eyelids.

A familiar grating laugh splits the air. Sanji’s sleeve slips between his fingers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Please share your thoughts with me! I am fueled by feedback of all kinds.


	3. Day 45

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After leaving Shells Town, Ace, Luffy and Zoro arrive at Fuusha village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got looooong. Day 45 is split into 2 sections so I've decided to release each section as a separate chapter.
> 
> I apologise if this chapter isn't as polished as the previous two. I should really leave writing until I am not so exhausted but if I did that then there would be no writing for a while ^.^;
> 
> I have been very busy in my personal life recently and it's only going to get busier for the next two weeks so I might start slowing down a little. We will see!
> 
> There is also a little bit of a flashback at the start of this section so I apologise if the recap of Zoro, Luffy and Ace's journey since Shells Town is a bit confusing.  
> I hope you enjoy!

Somehow everything looked the same after the outbreak. In the aftermath of chaos and carnage, every area was similarly littered with debris, houses in varying states of ruin or fortification. It all looked the same and yet nothing looked like it had done in the days before Zoro had been arrested at all.

Even when they were still in Shells Town, Zoro had had absolutely no idea where he was for most of the time. And it had taken them a while to make it out of Shells Town.

Zoro was the reason. Ace and Luffy should have just left him – he had told them so. He wouldn’t have been offended. They didn’t know him. He didn’t know them. They had saved his life by releasing him from that cell. They owed him nothing more; they hadn’t even owed him that.

But when he had suggested this after they had slowed their pace to accommodate his half-starved, half-wasted state, Luffy had only looked at him with those large brown eyes of his and said, “But Zoro said he’d be on my crew if we let him out.”

Zoro had started to reply that actually, he hadn’t said that. Luffy had given that as an ultimatum but ultimately the brothers hadn’t waited for any response.

Then Ace had clapped him on the shoulder and with a good-natured laugh said, “Best give it up now. When Luffy decides something, it’s pretty final. You should stick with us for a while.”

With no idea how to reply to that, Zoro had opened his mouth wordlessly. But before any response had come to him, Luffy had already spotted a TV still flickering in a shop window and made a beeline towards it.

“Oi, oi Luffy-“ Ace had started, releasing Zoro to rush after him before he could trigger some kind of trap or attract disaster.

Luffy had triggered a lot of trouble in the early days. With the new undead, with other survivors, with stray animals – a lot of times with stray animals.

But it did have one positive effect. Well, two if you wanted to be thorough about it. One, they most certainly did their part in reducing the local zombie population. Two, it became immediately apparent that the three of them made an excellent team. Or as Luffy put it, ‘a kick-ass crew’.

Luffy and Ace were brothers. The two of them had grown up together and fought together seamlessly. But Zoro’s skill with a sword was almost unrivalled and somehow, without any discussion, theirs became a patchwork partnership and it worked perfectly.

He liked them.

Luffy, while chaos incarnate, could find entertainment anywhere. He had a zest for life that honestly made Zoro wonder sometimes if he would even be capable of becoming one of the undead. That amount of life could surely never be dampened. Still, he resolved never to test that particularly theory.

By comparison, Ace was a lot more realistic. He was also always up for adventure but Ace was a lot more observant, more careful. He teased the other two but was always looking out for all of their safety. He was an incredible fighter, skilled with all weaponry it seemed, improvised or otherwise.

He was also the only person in their three-man team who had any idea where he was or how to get where they were going.

Even so, even with Ace guiding them, it took them just over a month to make it to brothers’ destination.

“I see it!” cheered Luffy, whacking Zoro in the arm and pointing.

‘It’ could have meant anything, yet the sinking feeling in the pit of Zoro’s stomach told him that it was the windmill that had given Fuusha village its name. The windmill and the hills of Dawn Island.

“ _Luffy!_ ” hissed Ace, but then caught sight of what his brother was pointing at and started to laugh, diminishing the power of his admonishment.

Zoro tore his eyes from the sight of the brothers’ hometown and kept his focus on the area around them. It was quiet. All quiet. Too quiet. It had been for a while now. They had encountered none of the shambling corpses of the outbreak’s recent victims. Nor had they encountered any survivors. There were no corpses lying in the streets, though the evidence of frantic struggles and attempts to flee, the abandoned cars, the broken windows… those things were everywhere.

It was like a ghost town. Like the people who should have been here, undead or otherwise, had simply vanished into thin air.

It was thoroughly creeping Zoro out. In spite of the obvious relief on Ace’s face, Zoro could tell from the measured way he was moving that he shared some of those concerns.

Luffy continued onwards, swinging a stick he had picked up from an empty garden a couple of hours ago, either oblivious or entirely unconcerned. Zoro wondered whether the stick functioned as a dowsing rod for trouble.

Trouble did not come until they reached the harbour.

What had probably once been a large square upon which a market was held now had been completely cleared. Armed men were stationed on fire escapes at each corner. More congregated around a wooden hut that once been the location of guided tours of the bay and passage to Dawn Island. The signage was untouched. A single boat sat pristine in the water.

There were immediately at least three rifles trained on each of them.

They had heard tell of a safe zone, a closed community. Evidently it was this place that those other survivors had been referring to. Zoro had anticipated as much.

“Oooooh Shanks!” yelled Luffy and, heedless of all of the weapons, bounded straight across the square towards the hut.

Zoro reached for his swords immediately. Deflecting bullets with blades was a stunt for movies. It wasn’t supposed to be possible. But if the alternative was allowing Luffy to be shot then Zoro would damn sure make it happen.

Ace grabbed his wrist before he could draw a blade, slotting his fingers between Zoro’s like it was a casual motion and not an attempt to prevent combat. Zoro couldn’t keep the alarm off his face as he rounded on him.

Just in time to see the nearest gunman, a guy with shoulder length dreadlocks and a headband that read ‘YASOPP’ in blue lettering, hop down from the rooftop.

“Luffy!” called the new guy.

“Oi, Yasopp!” shouted Luffy, waving exuberantly but not crossing back over to him, attention still very obviously focused on the hut. “Where’s Shanks? I thought he was here just now…”

“Shanks?” said Zoro quietly to Ace.

“Akagami,” replied Ace under his breath.

Zoro’s eyes widened at the mention of the name.

Saying nothing, Ace took a careful step forwards, still keeping a firm grip on Zoro’s hand. Zoro was not a child who needed to be contained and Ace had never attempted such a thing before, so assuming there to be some kind of reason, Zoro obediently moved alongside him.

“Hey, Yasopp!” called Ace, considerably quieter than his brother. “Don’t I get a greeting?”

“You found Ace!” said the man, Yasopp, gaping in surprise. “Is that – that’s not Sa-“

But before the sentence could be finished, a red haired man exited the hut and Luffy yelled, “Shanks!” loudly enough to wake the dead.

It literally could these days. The other gunmen immediately redirected their focus outwards, a couple of them climbing up onto the rooves for a better view.

“Luffy!” said the man, who apparently was Akagami.

Zoro had heard of Akagami. He knew very little about the man except that he was the head of a very notorious crew, a head that was worth a vast sum of money in the bounty hunting business, and that his swordsmanship skill was strong enough to rival Dracule Mihawk.

The lack of undead in the streets suddenly made a lot more sense. Someone with Shanks’ influence and skills could probably keep an area relatively free of zombies for a while. And if the island was already clear of them, could probably hold it too.

Luffy’s blind faith that Fuusha would be safe and Ace’s insistence upon the Dawn Island plan suddenly made a lot more sense to Zoro.

They would be safe then. That was good. It would have been difficult to part with them if not. If this a closed community as rumoured, it was unlikely they would be willing to accept an outsider like him. It turned out that the apocalypse made as many people territorial and cutthroat about it as it prompted to band together.

That was fine. He had expected as much.

“Here’s your treasure,” said Luffy, yanking his straw hat off his hand and presenting it for Shanks to take. “I brought it back safe like I promised.”

Shanks smiled but didn’t take it.

Nobody prevent Ace’s and Zoro’s slow progress across the square but Zoro did not relax regardless. Even if Luffy and Ace knew these people, trusted them, clearly even cared about them, Zoro would not let his guard down. In fact, it was because of this that he couldn’t.

Even in just thirty days, they had witnessed other survivors do some despicable things to people they had claimed to love in the name of survival. That would not happen to his friends, not while he was around.

He watched the gunmen, expanding his awareness to capture each movement they made.

“Oh, so you did,” said Shanks, reaching one arm from out of a long black coat that was draped over his shoulders. The movement of the arm exposed a sword hanging at his waist.

“There isn’t even blood on it,” continued Luffy.

Shanks’ hand found his hair and ruffled it and Luffy accepted this for a moment before they all saw Shank’s pressure increase, then Luffy attempted to duck away.

Shanks laughed good naturedly, releasing Luffy and brushing some hair out of his face. The front strands were damp and clung to his forehead, his forehead upon which shone the faint sheen of sweat.

“You can keep hold of it a while longer,” said Shanks. “I’ve had it some twenty years; it’s about time it found a new owner.”

As Shanks had spoken, he had run his fingers through his hair, fingers pausing briefly to scratch at the back of his neck. And as he did that, his jacket fell back over his shoulders.

He reached for it immediately, preventing it from hitting the ground. But it didn’t matter. They had all seen.

Zoro did not know much about Akagami but he was quite certain that the man he knew of had two arms. The man before him now had only one. Evidently, this was also news to Ace if the quiet gasp he gave was any indication. Zoro and Ace both exchanged a grim look.

Zoro reached for Luffy’s shoulder, yanking him backwards before Shanks could place the distressed straw hat back on his head.

Luffy still caught that hat before it could come anywhere close to the floor.

Shanks raised an eyebrow. Zoro felt the attention of all nearby men zero in on him. Shanks did nothing so neither did anybody else.

“Were you bitten?” Zoro asked. Urgency made it a low growl.

At the exact same time, Ace asked, “What happened to your arm?”

Understanding dawned in Shanks’ eyes. Eyes that now Zoro looked closely seemed sunken, shadowed by the bruising of sleepless nights. His face was pale but for a slight flush across his cheeks.

“Oh, oh, no,” said Shanks. He was still smiling, still relaxed. “It happened more than a month ago – an accident. It wasn’t them.”

“ _They_ couldn’t get _our_ captain,” said Yasopp, throwing an arm around Shanks’ shoulders.

Shanks sighed.

A large man with a chicken drumstick hanging from the corner of his mouth emerged from the side of the hut. Zoro hadn’t noticed him. He tightened his grip on Luffy’s shoulder. Luffy started to salivate.

“It was real stormy the day after it happened. Luffy here crashed a boat in it. Captain pulled him out and got his arm cut up in the process,” said the newcomer around the drumstick.

Zoro felt Luffy flinch. “I hadta get Ace an’ Sabo,” he mumbled, gripping that hat tightly enough that his fingertips turned white around it.

“It wasn’t that bad,” said Shanks with a light-hearted laugh. “It was just too bad to worry about keeping with all this going on and no damn surgeons around. One arm’s good enough for me. Unlike your friend, I only use one sword.”

Zoro did not point out that this did not mean that the loss of an arm would not affect a person’s swordsmanship. Shanks met his eyes and they both knew that it was obvious that it did. This was for Luffy’s benefit. Zoro could respect that, even if he didn’t believe the man.

Without breaking eye contact with Zoro, Shanks asked, “Are you going to introduce us to your friend? I’m assuming this isn’t Sabo in disguise.”

Luffy’s shoulders stiffened. Ace squeezed Zoro’s hand, reminding him that he had yet to let go of it.

“It’s-“ Luffy began.

He was hushed by Ace. “Would you believe us if we said he is?”

“It’d be more believable if Sabo grew two inches than shrank two inches,” said Yasopp.

Ace shrugged. “Worth a shot.”

“This is Zoro,” said Luffy. “He’s nakama.”

Yasopp and Shanks exchanged a look. The third man bit down on the chicken leg in his mouth with an audible crunch. It attracted nobody’s attention or concern other than Zoro’s.

“Nakama, huh?” said Shanks.

“Yeah,” said Luffy, an unusual air of seriousness about him. He looked up at Shanks like he was daring him to disagree. Like that was something that could be disagreed with and not a personal opinion.

“We picked him up at the beginning,” added Ace. He released Zoro’s hand and instead leaned casually on his shoulder. “We’ve come all the way from Shells Town together.”

“Zoro is nakama,” repeated Luffy firmly. “He’s on our crew now so you gotta let him into the village.”

Shanks sighed.

A fourth man, whom Zoro also hadn’t noticed, added, “He better be able to pull his weight.”

Luffy grinned, grabbing the side of Zoro’s shirt and dragging him closer. Ace released him and he almost stumbled forwards from the sudden force of Luffy’s arm.

“Zoro’s really strong!” Luffy announced.

Ace also grinned, delivering a light punch to Zoro’s shouler.

“Got any family, kid?” asked the large man. The tone was conversational, his stance casual. He also had a somewhat lazy smile on his face but behind a pair of round sunglasses, Zoro could see that his eyes were sharp.

“No,” he answered, matter-of-factly.

It was true. Even if he searched the whole country, there was nobody to find.

“Good,” the large man responded.

Yasopp sent a sharp look in his direction.

Shanks sighed again. “Alright, alright,” he said.

Before he could finish, Luffy was already whooping, grabbing at Zoro’s forearm.

With his one arm, Shanks began to usher them in the direction of the hut.

It was the fourth man who cut through Luffy’s celebration. “Coming home or not, you’ve still been out there so you’ll have to follow the rules. You can go in there but you have to take everything off for us to inspect. We can’t have the infection spreading to the island.”

“If you have food, hand it over,” added the large man.

“No!” answered Luffy. “It’s mine!”

The large man laughed, slapping him repeatedly on the back, hard enough to make him stumble forwards. He followed it up with an exuberant hair ruffle. “That’s our anchor.”

“I’m not an anchor!” Luffy complained, as he was pushed in the direction of the hut.

“Right, right,” said Yasopp. “Maybe my kid can teach you how to swim at last.”

“Usopp’s here?” echoed Luffy.

At the same time, the large man said to the fourth man, “That’ll never happen – he’s a lost cause.”

Yasopp replied, “Yup! My wife and my kid. We went out and got ‘em a couple of days after you left. Told ‘em to hang tight and they did. We’ve got a few other kids here too. Now hurry up and sort yourselves out.”

He shooed them into the hut.

Luffy entered first, still tugging Zoro by the arm. Ace followed closely behind.

Inside, what had once been a reception and waiting area had been transformed. The seating had all been pushed to the walls and in the centre was a selection of wooden crates. The fourth man led them to the back of the room, where a sheet had been laid over an old metal bench.

“Take everything off.”

Shanks had followed them in and sat heavily on a nearby chair, rubbing at the shoulder that no longer supported an arm. The large man went to the other side of the room, also watching. Zoro noticed a pistol hanging from his belt.

Luffy immediately stripped off what limited clothing he had been wearing, tossing it carelessly onto the sheet. His hat was the last thing to go, placed on top of his haphazard pile of clothing and patted lovingly.

The man who had led them appraised him from all angles.

“No visible marks.”

“Shishishi, nope!”

“Alright, you can put it all back on and go sit in the boat.” He gestured to another doorway next to where Shanks was sitting.

Luffy started to do just that. Zoro and Ace both removed their clothing slowly, both keeping their shoes until last. All attention was on Zoro first, even when Luffy loudly left through the indicated door. Zoro understood; he was the unknown entity here, the outsider. And he kept a tight grip on all three of his swords just in case.

Thankfully, nobody commented on that.

“What were these?” asked the man, gesturing towards Zoro’s wrists, where old injuries had faded to faint white bands.

“Cuffs,” said Zoro, shifting his thumb against the hilt of Wado Ichimonji, just in case. “Tried pulling ‘em off. Didn’t work.”

“I’d think not,” said the man dryly before turning to Shanks. “He’s fine.” He turned back to Zoro. “You can go with Luffy.”

His eyes turned to Ace, who stood naked now but for his own hat, a cowboy hat with goggles attached, and his bead bracelet and necklace. Ace shifted from foot to foot as the man appraised him, gaze finally falling on the bracelet on his wrist and what stood out on the skin underneath.

He didn’t say anything to any of the others. His body said all he needed to express. He froze, eyes widening, then leaned in towards the injury, expression darkening. Shanks got up for a closer look. Zoro shoved his shirt over his head quickly, getting ready to grab Ace and run if it came to that.

Akagami or no, he’d fight their way out if he had to.

“Oh, _Ace_ ,” said Shanks.

“It was a dog bite,” said Ace quietly.

It _was_ a dog bite. Zoro knew this. It had to be a dog bite because it had healed perfectly. Ace had healed perfectly. Zoro had been with them for some thirty-four days, had slept next to him. If he was going to turn, he would already have done so. Ace was fine.

But Ace sounded almost apologetic. He looked uncomfortable. He toyed with one of the beads of his bracelet and failed to look any of them in the eye.

His word would not mean a thing to these people but Zoro still gave it. “It was,” he confirmed. “Ask Luffy – he was there.”

“Mm,” Ace nodded, finally looking up. “It happened right at the start. We were saving some old guy’s dog. He owned a pet shop in Orange Town.”

“Ask Luffy,” Zoro repeated.

The large man went through the door that Luffy had gone through. Shanks and the other man both stared at Ace’s bite scar.

Zoro added, “He’s had that ever since I’ve known him. I met him nine days in and it’s healed up just fine. He’s not – it really was a dog.”

“Nine days?” asked the man who was not Shanks. “Are you sure?”

“Certain,” said Zoro. “I counted the sunsets. Wasn’t much else I could do.”

The man frowned. “Where were-“ he began.

He was cut off when the large man returned with Luffy. Or rather, Luffy returned with the large man.

“It was Chouchou!” Luffy cried as he barged into the room. “We were trying to get the keys to the pet shop so we could untie him and but he was carrying the keys in his mouth and he wouldn’t let go of them so then I tried to swap them for my keys but he ate them. Ace tried to stop him but he bit Ace. But ‘cause he was biting Ace, I got the keys and everyone was fine. Except the old guy – he was a zombie. But it wasn’t him that bit Ace ‘cause I killed him - it was Chouchou! It was!”

Everyone turned to Shanks.

“I want to believe you. I really do. But even if I do, I can’t take Ace to the island with a bite mark like that.”

“Just look at it,” said Zoro. “Those aren’t human teeth. It wasn’t a zombie. It was a dog. Get a doctor to confirm it if you have one.”

Shanks frowned down at the old wound, the new scar, for a long moment. “Alright,” he concluded. “Ace is one of our own. We can’t abandon him, not after Luffy went so far to get him here. But I also can’t just take him at his word on this. I’m sure you understand.”

Ace nodded. Luffy frowned. Zoro tried very hard not to scowl.

“So,” Shanks continued, “the next shift change is in two hours. We will go to Fuusha village and will bring back the doctor to assess him in the next shift change after that. If he’s judged safe, we’ll bring him back then. Until then, Ace can stay here. Fair?”

“Fair,” agreed Ace.

“But it was a dog!” Luffy protested.

Ace gave a small, tired smile. “It’s fine, Luffy. Go say hello to Makino, Dadan and the guys for me. I’ll catch you up in no time.”

“Tomorrow, probably,” added the large man.

“No! We can’t go without Ace,” said Luffy, looking at Zoro.

Zoro was inclined to agree. He gave a slow nod.

“Guys,” said Ace, “it’s fine. It’s as safe here as it’s been for us this whole time. Probably safer. I’ll be fine.”

“But-“ Luffy began.

“ _Luffy_ ,” said Ace, sounding almost pained.

He took a breath and picked up his boxers from the bench, casting a quick, customary glance towards the unnamed man who had been inspecting them. Receiving a curt nod, he pulled them up over his hips and retrieved his shorts as well.

Only then did he pause, looking over at Luffy through his hair, and add seriously, “Someone has to tell them about Grey Terminal. Don’t you think it needs to be someone who was there?”

Luffy had opened his mouth as though to protest but at the words ‘Grey Terminal’, it snapped shut with an audible click. He looked down at his worn straw sandal, an uncharacteristic frown on his face.

“Okay,” he said quietly. “Okay.”

Ace pulled his shorts on and sat down on the bench. His hat and his hair fell forwards as he folded his arms across his chest. His eyes were shielded from their view.

“Luffy?” he said, after a long and thick silence.

For once, Luffy did not respond verbally. He simply lifted his own head and looked in Ace’s direction. Zoro stood between the two of them, resisting the urge to step backwards and blend further into the background.

“Don’t tell them why I’m waiting here,” said Ace finally. “They’ll only worry about it.”

Luffy blinked. “’Kay. I won’t tell them. Ace can them himself when he gets there.”

“Yeah,” said Ace. “And we can tell them how you lost your keys too.”

At this, Luffy pulled a face. Shanks laughed, unfettered laughter that echoed around the hut. His men all joined in. A small smile pulled at the corners of Ace’s lips.

“Or,” posed Luffy, hopping up onto the bench with Ace and sitting cross-legged, “we could not tell them that part.”

“We could,” agreed Ace, prompting Luffy’s face to light up. “But where would be the fun in that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! As always, comments feed my poor writing soul so please do let me know what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> This is waaaay outside of my usual comfort zone and subject matter so I definitely welcome any and all thoughts you might have! I accept all comments, from constructive criticism to 'Yep, I sure did read this fic and it's alright, I guess.'
> 
> Also feel free to yell at me on tumblr or twitter. My oneshot requests are also open on tumblr.
> 
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